Published 1:26 am, Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The family gave the town the easement, with the assurance that the property will forever be preserved from development.

The property, located along Zoar Road and known as Snake Rock Farm, is a critical watershed that feeds the Pootatuck Aquifer, providing a significant portion of drinking water to the town.

The property also includes forestland, meadows and wooded wetlands that ultimately drain into Lake Zoar and the Pootatuck River.

"The conservation easement eliminates the possibility that this property could ever be subdivided and gives the (Newtown Forest Association) the rights and obligations to monitor and prevent development of any kind, and to ensure the property is preserved in its current condition," according to a press release from the association.

The Howat property abuts 33 acres owned and protected by the forest association, which lies next to 16 acres of town-owned open space.

"We are very grateful to the Howat family for the passion that they have shown for their property," said Bob Eckenrode, the association's president.

Like most conservation easements, this property will not be open to unfettered public use, but the association has received permission to conduct guided tours for its members.

The original house on the property dates back to 1767.

The land has been in the Hadley and Howat family since 1889. There is a well that the family dates back to the 1700s and buckets retrieved from the well's bottom are dated between 1800 and 1820.

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The Newtown Forest Association is Connecticut's oldest private land trust that receives no government funding. Since its formation in 1924, it has protected over 1,030 acres through donations and has preserved over 90 acres under conservation easements, according to the association.